What is a good open rate for e-mail marketing?

MailerMailer released their 10th study about 6 months ago on e-mail open rates and some of the findings are worth thinking about.

As you can see in the chart below, the average unique open rate is dropping. Image blocking, the increased use of mobile devices for e-mail and list fatigue were listed as key reasons for the drop.

One of the more ponder worthy facts was that the day with the highest open and click rates is Sunday. (with Tuesday in 2nd) I found myself wondering if that's the day business people clean out their inbox to get ready for the week.

When they looked at open rates by industry, no surprise — medical was at the bottom of the barrel at 7.3%. Sadly for me and my brethren — marketing was right there with the magic pills at 7.4%. Ag had the highest at 25.3%.

E-mails with shorter subject lines were opened 52% more than the long-winded versions.

So…how might you tweak your e-mail strategy to take advantage of these results? Here's what we're going to do with our weekly e-newsletter:

Comments

Drew,
I have to say that for our direct email pieces we are seeing over 30% sometimes higher. That does not include the elusive 30% or so that do not or cannot report. I just factor that in as having the same rate and the 70% that can or does report. I don’t know if more systems are in place that inhibit reporting, I am using an old number I learned 10 years ago.

Thanks for sharing,
Roger

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Hi Drew,
In Norway (where Ilive) there is a lot of differences regarding opening rates and what I see when working with clients abroad. The opening rates for the most of the sites that I administer throurh aweber, campaign monitor, mail chimp and others are between 17-25 percent depending on the niche and quality of the subject text and intro.

In the “how to make money online” industry it is even higher for special topics.
This is also depending of how well we are segmenting wjile building mailing lists.

Best regards,
Trond om MoneyOnline.net

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Thanks for posting these latest statistics. I am surprised with Sunday being the highest open rate. Mid-week is traditionally what I will recommend to clients for email sends (Tuesday or Wednesday).

Another note of caution for anyone looking at average open/click through rates or those of competitors – a big factor is the quality of your list. If you have a poor quality list, your rates will be much lower. If you have a 100% opt-in list of active engaged customers, this rate can be much higher!

Thanks!
Justin
eComegy

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I have typically seen the best rates with mid-morning sends. I would stay away from early morning (people are busy cleaning out their inbox from the overnight “junk”) and late afternoon (people are just trying to get out of the office). Be mindful of the timezone differences and where the bulk of your customers are located.

Justin
eComegy

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Sounds like you have a receptive audience and your content is strong — congrats! I thought the ag number was interesting as well. I wouldn’t have guessed that industry would be big on e-newsletters and the like.

Drew

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As you know, there are many factors that influence open rates, but yes, in general I think these are still pretty accurate. But keep in mind, these numbers take into account the emails that get 60+% or better opens and the ones that get .05%.

The one thing I think these kinds of studies forget is that many people can view their emails (using the window pane settings) without ever opening them. It’s a good reason to add some links to encourage them to open it all the way.

The email auto open might balance out the window pane readers too. It’s not a precise number for sure. But, at least we have a ball park to shoot for or exceed!

Drew

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